The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and MCRA LLC, an IQVIA business, have chosen four finalists from a 40-plus applicant pool to compete in the 2025 OrthoPitch competition.

Slated to run live on the first day of AAOS’s 2025 Annual Meeting in San Diego, OrthoPitch exposes AAOS members to cutting-edge orthopedic advancements and gives them insight into the future of musculoskeletal care. The OrthoPitch winner will gain access to top seed and early-stage investors, physicians, and strategists, and receive a complimentary booth at AAOS’s 2026 Annual Meeting (New Orleans). In addition, the top company will win a 20-minute Innovation Theater time slot at the 2026 Annual Meeting as well as a complimentary webinar with AAOS and one-on-one coordinated meetings with at least nine leading medtech investors.

OrthoPitch is a technology competition for early and mid-stage companies with novel, innovative and potentially disruptive product concepts or solutions for improving existing standards or orthopedic care. Every OrthoPitch submission was thoroughly reviewed by a panel of industry experts and members of the AAOS Devices, Biologics and Technology Committee. 

The finalists will present their solutions to a panel of expert judges, including leading orthopedic surgeons and industry professionals. The judges and audience will decide the winner.

This year’s finalists are:

• 16 Bit, a Toronto-based company whose AI-enabled software device (Rho) opportunistically screens radiographs in patients aged 50 years and older for low bone mineral density risk. Receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration De Novo authorization last spring, Rho uses radiographs of the chest, spine, knee, pelvis, hand, or wrist. The company’s Physis software employs artificial intelligence to estimate bone age.
• Auctus Surgical, which has designed a system to give adolescents a viable, flexible option to complex fusion surgery. Necessitating only one treatment, the Auctus System uses an external magnet controller to non-surgically adjust spinal curvature over time. A flexible tether is surgically implanted on the side of the spine, with one end attached to an implanted, magnetically adjusted spool that bends and twists the spine. Surgeons use a handheld magnetic controller to lengthen the implant as the child grows.
• The Netherlands-based SentryX’s BR-003 is a ring-shaped implantable anesthetic for spine fixation surgery. Co-implanted with regular pedicle screws, the anesthetic hydrogel is composed of biocompatible biopolymers that completely dissolves after releasing its active pharmaceutical ingredient. The hydrogel works with all types of small-molecule drugs, and its release profile can be tailored to specific clinical needs and surgical procedures.
• 3D computer vision and spatial computing firm VISIE Inc. has developed deep tech optical scanners for use in robotic and navigated orthopedic, neuro, and spine surgery. The company’s proprietary hardware and software produce snap registration and rich objective data that can be used in both image-dependent and imageless robotic, as well as navigated, surgery.

Last year’s winner was CytexOrtho, a pre-clinical medical device company focusing on orthopedic treatment options for cartilage repair. Its ReNew Hip implant is designed to naturally restore joints rather than artificially replacing them.

The 2025 OrthoPitch competition is scheduled to take place March 11 at 6 p.m.